No option for repeat offenders

INDIANA OPINION

September 06, 2011|From the Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind.

Pretrial diversion is a good option for first-time offenders. It allows those who commit alcohol-related and other minor offenses to pay a fee, attend a class and have the crime scrubbed from their record. It helps the wheels of justice keep turning by handling many non-serious offenses in an efficient manner that keeps many people out of court -- and out of a crowded jail.

But the use of the option for second- and even third-time offenders should be reconsidered. Except in very rare and unusual circumstances, this should be a one-time option.

Indiana University students are a major recipient of the record-cleaning aspect of pre-trial diversion. In a story in Sunday's Herald-Times, reporter Laura Lane noted that last year, 69 percent of the people who attended the required alcohol class that comes with the program were IU students. And that percentage was lower than the previous year.

It's realistic to think that college students are going to make mistakes, and they should not pay for them for the rest of their lives. In that way, this is an excellent program that should provide a teachable moment.

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But when one doesn't learn, a second chance seems unwarranted, and a third chance seems unwise, to put it mildly.

What brought this program into recent focus was the case of Corey Rossman. He's one of the people who was last seen with Lauren Spierer, the IU student who has not been heard from since early the morning of June 3 after a night of drinking downtown.

Rossman already had been through pretrial diversion three times. The first was in 2008; the second was after a Halloween 2010 arrest for illegal consumption; the third was less than two months later when he was charged again with illegal consumption.

Three arrests as a student and theMonroe County prosecutor's office was willing to let him keep his record clean if he completed the requirements of his third shot at the program, which he has not done. He's due in court this week.

The reason is as distasteful as it is simple: money. The pretrial diversion program money helps fund the prosecutor's office -- providing about 40 percent of its budget, in excess of $800,000.

Also a money problem: addressing the longer-term problem of an overcrowded jail that is ill-equipped to handle an additional stream of alcohol offenders. Reducing offenders' chances to buy their way to freedom after more than one offense would require facilities and staffing -- at additional cost to the taxpayers.

But in fairness, the second- and third-time offenders are relatively rare. Chief Deputy Prosecutor Bob Miller told Lane just 5 percent of participants get arrested again. Still, it's difficult to accept that more than one or two people a year would justify a second chance, and impossible to understand the option for a third chance at the program.

One thing Miller said indicates the true danger of college-age drinking and the reason it needs to be taken very seriously. Perhaps IU needs to tighten up its own disciplinary procedures. The threat of getting kicked out of college may have far more impact than a night or two in jail.

"We have seen an alarming increase in over-the-top behavior involving alcohol among students," he said. "It's not a situation where kids are drinking to get drunk. They are drinking until they are obliterated."

Let's be clear: Those "obliterated" on alcohol could die. Reason enough to tighten up the extra chances through pretrial diversion. Stronger messages the first time could save somebody's life.